“I have—I haven’t—oh, for goodness’ sake, woman, go on! She hasn’t been got at?”
“Not directly, Hilt, but indirectly.”
“But how—how? Go on. I’m in torture.”
“Ha!” cried Lady Tilborough, with a sigh of satisfaction. “I knew you would be, Hilt, for your old friend’s sake.”
“Will you go on, Hetty?”
“Yes, yes. I can’t prove it. I daren’t say it, but Josh Rowle has been a deal at Sam Simpkins’s this last week or two.”
“Yes?”
“And I’m as good as sure that the old scoundrel has been at work on him.”
“No; you’re wrong. Josh is as honest as the day. I always trusted him to ride square, and he always did.”
“And so he has for me, Hilt.”